10 junio 2012

Well, I am really tempted to write you a three word letter that says, "See you Wednesday!" but I am going try hard to think of something else to say. This week was awesome! We had Mitzi`s baptism on Friday night. Thespacebarinthisplacedoesn`tworkverywell. It was a really good baptismal service.Her family came andalso her boyfriend`s family who are all members. I baptized Mitzi and even thoughit was my last week in the mission whenI got into the font and started to say the prayer my mind blanked. I had to think for a little bit. Haha. She bore her testimony afterwards and itwas reallystrong. Her familyis also progressing really well including one of her sisters thatwas a bit reluctant at first. I am sure her sister will be baptizedthis month. Yesterday, I had my exit interview with PresidentValadez. It was a bit sooner than I expected but I am glad because it helped me a ton. I feel really relaxed and excited right now. I can`t wait to start my new life and keep learning and growing. I am so grateful for being to serve a mission. Thanks for sopporting me and helping me for all of this time. I feel like Heavenly Father just decided to take me and shape me more into the person that He knew I could be. I am thankful to Himforthat. I love the Savior and all that He has taught me in these two years and the people that I have taught.I know that He gives light to all things. So I hope youare all readyfor me to get back. Tomorrow Iwill goto the mission home and eat with Presidente Valadez. I think that I will haveto be at the airport at 5 on Wednesday. 
I love youa ton and I can`t wait to see you!!!

Love, ElderHubbard

 thespacebarstilldoesn`twork

 

Just wanted to let everyone know that Tyler will be speaking on June 16. Our Sacrament meeting is at 1:00 p.m. Come listen to him!!

3 junio 2013

Que onda!!!

I have learned that I am not capable of watching Mormon Messages and writing a letter to you at the same time. Oprah calls that multi-tasking. That´s one thing that I haven´t learned on my mission. So it was another awesome week! We are taking half of our P-day today and another half tomorrow due to a Leadership Council that we are going to have tomorrow.

Elder Shirley and I are doing great. I watched him chase a nonexistant Chihuahua around the house at about 1 in the morning last night. Haha. Poor guy never sleeps good. It has been awesome having him as a last companion. Definitely a tender mercy of the Lord. And the good news is that I have converted him into a mamey smoothie addict also. 

We taught 23 lessons this week. It´s not as much as we would have liked but we had a few extra things that we had to do too. I went to Chinampas with Elder Beal once again to interview some people. He´s from my generation but won´t be flying home with us because his parents are flying in on Wednesday. I will be flying to L.A. with Elder Reid and Elder Herman though. We also gave a special training to a district in our zone that is struggling with la Obra de la Salvación. Most of them only teach about 12 lessons per week. So we set goals with them to increase the amount they teach every week and to also uplift and strengthen the members more. I love teaching a lot because we are not walking in the street all day, we get better at teaching, we find new people to teach, and we can strengthen whoever is in front of us. 

Mitzy is going great. She is going to be baptized this Friday and she already asked me to perform the ordinance. I am so glad that I could see her be baptized before I go. Her whole family went to church this week and are progressing really well.  Secretly, Elder Shirley and I have our own theme music for Mitzy. Haha.

Last night, our bishop invited his friend Monica and her kid, Gabriel over so we could meet them and teach them. Gabriel is a nine year old genius and Monica is really interested in the Restoration. So the area is running like a well oiled machine.

I love being a missionary and I love teaching. It´s so much fun. Tell the Bishop that I´ll do whatever he asks me when I get back! I´m still not the greatest teacher but I´m better than I was.

I have a ton that I have to do this week. Teach 30 lessons, have a baptism, a Leadership Council, interview some more people, and find new people to teach. It will be awesome. Churubusco has easily been one of my favorite wards. So that´s about all she wrote. I love  you  a ton! I´ll write again on Monday next week.  Paz.

Elder Hubbard

Happy Anniversary Aaron and Lynze.

28 mayo 2013

Hubbardoooos!!!

That means Hubbards in Spanish. How was your week? It sounds like Mom and Dad are having fun in the land of the pápas.  I can´t believe you met Spencer Call! I let him live with us when he was homeless for a few months. Haha. Happy Birthday this week to Don Marcos!

We had a good week here in Churubusco. It seemed like it was a water park with all of the rain, but it was fun. We taught 25 lessons this week and now we want to go for 30. Teaching a lot is so much fun.

This week Stefano was baptized! It was a good day. The baptismal service was probably the simplest one that I have ever seen. Stefano was born in Chicago so we baptized a fellow American. This week we are going to work on getting him prepared to recieve the Aaronic Priesthood.

We taught the Ramirez Flores family this week about the law of the fast and the mom did it this weekend. She loved it and recieved a huge testimony of it. As a result, we are now teaching their daughter, who didn´t want to listen to us before.

Things are also going well with Mitzy. Elder Jeffery R. Holland did us a favor this week, and visited Mexico City. Mitzy went with the YSA and she loved it. Obviously. We are now teaching Mitzy´s mom and sisters and they went to church on Sunday. So we have a lot of work in Churubusco.

This week I woke up in the middle of the night and heard that Elder Shirley was making a lot of noise. I looked down at him and all of the sudden he rolled over and fell right off the bed onto the floor. Hahaha. Poor kid. He was alright though.

Next Tuesday I am going to go to try to find some souvenirs for all of you. I´ll see if I can find something but it´s not going to be as cool as the scripture case that Aaron got us. Ni modo.

I love you all a ton! It feels good to be an elder. (Oh, and somebody yelled nefitas at my companion and I this week on the subway.) Have a good week!

Elder Hubbs

21 mayo 2013

Thanks for all of the happy birthday wishes! I feel loved. 

 Elder Shirley and I had another great week. The Zone Conference might have been the best one that I have had in my whole mission. President Valadez talked about how to study the scriptures so we can teach them. He taught us how to study doctrine, principles, and how to apply them. I love it. 

Elder Shirley and I have a great work system right now in our area. We are teaching a lot of lessons with members present at the church. Stefano is going good for his baptism this Saturday. Mitzy is also going well for her baptism on June 1st. The Ramirez Flores family went to a baptismal service Sunday night and when they walked out they looked like they had just gotten their minds blown. Brother Ramirez said that it felt like someone was hugging him during all of the service and he took that as his answer. They are all ready for baptism. They just need to get divorced and married first. I am really banking on the Mexican government pulling through for us.

I renewed my temple recommend this week! I love having those interviews. 

The rainy season is starting once again, so we are no longer dying from the scorching sun as much. We had a total of four birthday cakes in two days. Impressive. Sister Mares and her family gave us three and Laura and Michel gave us one. Haha.

There`s a whole bunch of other stuff that happened this week and I wrote all in my journal so I can tell you when I get home. I love you and thanks for everything. 

Love,

Elder Hubbard

RETURN Travel Itinerary For HUBBARD/TYLER JAMES - 12June

It's official!! Tyler will really be coming home!! We would like to invite anyone who would like to be with us at the airport when Tyler arrives home.

CHURCH TRAVEL CWT                          DATE 10APRIL13

50 EAST NORTH TEMPLE ST                    AGENT VH/K3 BOOKING REF 3L4DUL

SALT LAKE CITY UT 84150

TELEPHONE: 801 240-5111                    HUBBARD/TYLER JAMES 219765-R

FAX      : 801-240-5115

  MISSIONARY TRAVEL

  MEXICO MEXICO CITY SOUTH

SERVICE               DATE  FROM           TO             DEPART  ARRIVE

_____________________ _____ ______________ ______________ _______ ______

AMERICAN AIRLINES     12JUN MEXICO CITY    LOS ANGELES CA 725A    930A

AA 6936           WEDNESDAY JUAREZ INTL    LOS ANGELES IN

Q ECONOMY                   TERMINAL 1     TERMINAL 6

           NON SMOKING      SNACK                         NON STOP

                            RESERVATION CONFIRMED         4:05 DURATION

AS 0225                    FLIGHT OPERATED BY AS ALASKA AIRLINES

            AIRCRAFT OWNER: AS  ALASKA AIRLINES

                  AIRCRAFT: BOEING 737 ALL SERIES PASSENGER

AMERICAN AIRLINES     12JUN LOS ANGELES CA RENO NV        1200N   120P    

AA 2662           WEDNESDAY LOS ANGELES IN TAHOE INTL

Q ECONOMY                   TERMINAL 4

           NON SMOKING      FOOD FOR PURCHASE             NON STOP

                            RESERVATION CONFIRMED         1:20 DURATION

                            FLIGHT OPERATED BY SKYWEST AIRLINES AS AM

            AIRCRAFT OWNER: OO  SKYWEST AIRLINES

              COCKPIT CREW: OO  SKYWEST AIRLINES

                CABIN CREW: OO  SKYWEST AIRLINES

                  AIRCRAFT: CANADAIR REGIONAL JET

13 mayo 2013

It was so good to talk to you yesterday! I am glad that Travis could be there too to say hi. I´m writing today because tomorrow we are going to have our Zone Conference.  President Valadez has to show a future mission president an example of a zone conference and we won the lottery pick. 

We had such a good week in our area. President Valadez has invited us to teach thirty lessons every week. This week we acomplished 22. Elder Shirley is a beast and has helped me a lot. As part of teaching, we have taught a lot of active members. Week after week. We also always ask them if they know anyone that could be interested in our message. We are starting to see a lot of results.

We met a new investigator this week named Mitzy. She is 21 and her boyfriend is a member of the church. We taught her for the first time Saturday night in the church. It was so sweet! We gave her a tour and then we taught her the Restoration in the chapel. We invited her to pray about it as Elder Shirley played some hymns on the piano. Afterwards she said that she felt an unexplainable feeling and she accepted a baptitsmal date.

We also had a sweet lesson with the Ramirez Flores family. It was the first time that we taught them in about two months and they are on fire like in NBA Jam on the Super Nintendo. We explained to them why they needed to be baptized in the right way, they went to church yesterday, and I did a little fist pump in the pew. I am committed to do everything I can to help them be baptized before I leave.

The other miracle that we had was Jazmín. She is an inactive member that wants to come back to church out of nowhere. She brought her son Estefeno also to church yesterday and he is a great kid. 12 years old. We are going to start teaching them tomorrow. 

Happy Mother´s Day mom! I love you a ton. And Happy Birthday Jeff. Someday I will meet you. Haha. Have a great week. I love you all. I´ll write on Tuesday next week.

Elder Hubbard

8 mayo 2013

Familia!!

Sorry for writing so late! It feels like I haven`t had a p-day for about

two weeks! But here I am finally. We had a leadership council yesterday so

we couldn`t write. The Leadership Councils in the mission are now composed

of zone leaders and sister trainers. That may or may not be how you say

that in English. It was a lot of fun. There are a ton of new zone leaders,

including Elder Chronister from Aaron`s ward in Vegas. I ate lunch with him

yesterday.

So week 1 with my cool companion from Lovelock was awesome. We taught 26

lessons. In most of them we taught active members of the church and tried

to strengthen them. We still aren`t really repping in the investigators

category but we`ll get there. People from Nevada are athletes in the

mission field.

We had a ton of stuff to do this week as zone leaders. A bunch of

paperwork. I think Elder Shirley was pretty tired. He sleep walks every

night! Scares the bejeebees out of me. The first night I saw him walk into

the kitchen and in the morning a banana was on the floor. Haha. But I

already found the trick. He is really obedient so I just tell him to go

back to sleep. He just says okay...Haha.

Laura and Michel, our recent converts, have signed up to give us La Comida

every day this week. Word.

It`s gonna be another crazy week! I am so excited to talk to you on Sunday!

Travis better be there too. I love you and miss you.

Elder Hubbard

29 abril 2013

Happy Birthday dad!!! Biggest stud I know. I meant to tell you last week but at the last second I forgot. Sorry.  So my last transfer of the mission has officially begun. I didn´t get transferred but sadly, Elder Lee did. The goods news is that Fallon and Lovelock Nevada are now united here in Iztapalapa! My new companion is Elder Shirley from Lovelock. The Lord likes to do funny things like that.  It will be his first time being a zone leader so I´ll show him what we have to do. It will be tons of fun to be with him because he is normal and obedient.

I had a really good week. Elder Lee had to go to the doctors at the temple and there I bought a bible, triple and hymnbook for Laura. Better said, Mom and Dad bought it for her and she says thank you. Haha.

On Friday we didn´t work because we were puking. Elder Lee in the bathroom and I right on some plants that are outside the house. It was fun though. We don´t know why we got sick.

Socorro and Marisol are still going to church. Socorro said that one night she prayed to know if the church was true and she woke up in the morning with a train of thoughts. First-I´m gonna die. Second-God. Third- I need forgiveness. Fourth- I need to be baptized. And fifth- The elders. Haha. That´s a great way to start a day off. We invited them to a baptismal service of a little girl in the ward and they went and liked it but they still don´t want to do it. I have faith though. It has been such a fun project teaching them.

We have been teaching a lot of active members of the church and we find interesting things and have great lessons. For example, one marriage told us that they were sealed 7 years ago and haven´t gone back to the temple since. What are you people doing?! Go to the temple! It´s the best place in the world! Finally, an inactive family that we have been teaching for 2 months came to church on Sunday  It´s such a sweet feeling to see them back at the Lord´s Table. Well, actually only half of them went. But it´s alright for now.

Yesterday I had to take care of a problem of a missionary using his own cell phone to watch an ab workout video. What are you doing?! Haha. He´d better have a six pack.

Elder Lee and I played basketball at church today. It is the only church that I have seen here that as an indoor court. They´re ballers on budgets here in DF. Oh well.

I love every one of you almost as much as my investigators. Haha. JK. Love you.

Elder Hubbard

p.s. You should all make mormon.org profiles if you haven´t yet!

23 abril 2013

Dear Hubbard family,

Que hay. Sorry that I am writing kind of late today but Elder Lee and I went to the National Museum of Anthropology and to Wendy´s this morning. It was the biggest museum that I have ever been too. Elder Lee took some pictures. I am actually super tired now. The metro was packed.

This week flew by. It´s already the last week of the transfer.  We taught a lot of lessons in our area this week but we haven´t been able to help anybody accept a baptismal date. Maria del Socorro and Marisol went to church for the 4th time this week but they still don´t understand their need to be baptized. They are just really social and like going to our church.  We were teaching them on their 4th floor department on Sunday night when all of the sudden I got really dizzy. Then we all realized that it was a little earthquake. It felt so weird. It stopped so we finished our lesson. Haha.

Laura and Michel are still on fire. Laura received an assignment from the bishop to visit a sister this week and Michel is going to go to do baptisms at the temple today. I love to see them progressing. They are in Mosiah right now in the BM.

We had another zone conference this week. We have 40 missionaries in the zone right now. President Valadez is really good at making things more efficient. He talked to us about teaching by the Spirit and about teaching the doctrines of tithing and repentance better.

I keep trying to be a better missionary each day but I feel like I always come up short. It´s kind of frustrating.  I have been a missionary for so much time and I still mess up in just about everything just about every day. But I´m still trying. This week I finally got into the whole parting your hair thing. Word.

The pictures I got this week of Lucy Mae are so cute. Ánimo!

Love,

Elder Hubbard

Me at the National Museum of Anthropology

16 abril 2013

It was a fun week. The best part was easily Laura and Michel´s baptism on Thursday night. They are going really strong and now have many friends in the church. The Sister who gave us the referral also came and participated in the service. I went on exchanges with Elder Mata again this week. He is the AP who I was with for a couple of days in Febuary. He is from my generation too so it is a lot of fun. We had to go to President Valadez´s house to drop him off of few things. He was there in a Cruz Azul soccer hat, shirt, and shorts. I had to keep myself from laughing. I think I am going to give him the Cruz Azul jersey that was given to me in Topilejo. I am more of Pumas de UNAM fan. Haha. Elder Mata and Elder Bass also went to our baptism. Good news, the water in the font was clear, not green. Always a plus. Wow, I can´t think of anything to write today. We´ve been juggling our responsibilities as zone leaders and in our area. We have about 4 investigators right now that are making a lot of progress and have now gone to church four times. Elder Lee and I get along really well and have a lot of nerdy conversations. He has taught me how computer programing works, how 3D images work, the list goes on. That´s about all I got. Enjoy the pictures I sent.

 I love you and miss you.

Elder Hubbard

 Presidente and Sister Valadez, with son Yair

9 abril 2013

Dear Hubbard family,

I was so happy to be able to listen to the Lord´s voice this weekend during General Conference! There is nothing better to know than that we are children of God, and He does everything He possibly can to forgive us and make us happy. His Plan is so real and we are right in the middle of it. It truly gives us peace to know that Heavenly Father is happy with our actions and that He will always take care of us. I loved Elder Cook´s talk when he said, "Peace is not just safety or lack of war, violence, conflict and contention. Peace comes from knowing that the Savior knows who we are, knows that we have faith in Him, love Him, and keep His commandments, even and especially amid life's devastating trials and tragedies. The Lord's answer to the Prophet Joseph Smith in Liberty Jail brings solace to the heart: 'My son, peace be unto they soul; thine adversity and thine afflictions shall be but a small moment; And then, if thou endure it well, God shall exalt thee on high'" (Doctrine and Covenants 121:7-8).

We watched General Conference at our Stake Center in English. I enjoyed all of it. There are really prophets and apostles in the world today. Laura and Michel went to both sessions on Sunday. They are going to be baptized this Thursday! I can´t wait. They are two of the most prepared people that I have met in my entire mission.  Their baptismal interviews are tonight and they are completely ready. It has been an awesome experience going to their house every day and teaching them. In three week from the day we met them, they will be baptized. That´s how powerful missionary work is when members invite the people they know to hear the gospel. In Conference they said that with all of these missionaries, God is preparing more people´s hearts to hear the Gosple. I am sure that that is true.

We saw how Heavenly Father uses His children to help His children this week. With things so simple like a bag of tomatoes. I will tell you really fast. We were going to an appointment with our bishop one night and a guy stopped us and asked us to help him jump his wall to get into his house. The houses are built like prisons here and he was locked out. Hoping that that was actually his house and that we weren´t assisting a robbery, we gave him a boost and he got in. He opened the door from the inside and asked us if he could help us in anything. He sells fruit and veggies and asked us if we wanted some. There is a sister in the ward that really needs tomatoes so she can sell chilaquilas but they are too expensive. So the guy said that we could come by the next day and he would give us two kilos. We knocked on the door and he opened it with the tomatoes in his hand. We taught him and then took the tomatoes to the sister. She was so glad to have them. I am convinced that miracles for us is just logic thinking for God. He just moves his chess pieces.

All of our investigators are finally coming back from vacation so this should be a sick week. Mexico City is still nuts. Hot. Cold. Rainy. Sunny. All of that in the same day. And then there are all of the sounds you here in the street. All weird and funny. The gas has a sound, the tamales have another, the old steel trucks yell something else, then there´s the water and the bread boy, and the garbage bell.  It´s an endless stream of noise and people and all of them need the healing and redemptive power of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Even the people who stand in the streets all day offering to clean your windshield. Live and share the Gospel! I love you and pray for you.  Les mando un abrazote!

Elder Hubbard

2 abril 2013

This is going to be a short email! We went to the MTC this morning and President Valadez told me that while we were there that we could go to the temple! I feel so good right now. It´s like I got put on a spiritual IV. I hadn´t gone since December of 2011. Way to long. I love the temple and going inside. I saw my ward mission leader from Contreras while we were there and we talked to some missionary couples from the US that are serving there in the temple. They said that it was good to speak English with somebody.

In our area this week, we just kept visiting Laura and Michel each day. All we have left to teach them are some commandments. They didn´t go to church on Sunday and we don´t know why. But they are studs.

We had our interviews with President Valadez yesterday which is always fun. He such a cool guy and way funny. He asked me to move his van for him, so for the first time in almost two years, I drove a mini van! It´s like a space ship.

I told you that this would be a short email! We still have lots to do and no time to do it. Enjoy every single session of general conference! I know that prophets speak today. And enjoy Christ´s real birthday on April 6th. Les amo!

Elder Hubbard

26 marzo 2013

We had some really huge blessings this week in our area. We contacted a referral that we received from another ward and it was straight cash, homey. We made an appointment and went to visit them on Thursday. We met Laura and her daughter, 15 year old daughter, Michel. There are few times that I have met people on my mission like them. Laura is a widow and only has Michel to look after. She works in house keeping and goes to a member's house once a week to clean. It was the first time that she has known anything about the church. In our first appointment, we got to know them and they accepted a baptismal date right off the bat. They even like the Beatles and are looking for any opportunity they can find to give us something to eat.  We taught them on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, Sunday they went to church, and we taught them yesterday with the young women's president there with us.  They both have said in these exact words that "the Holy Ghost has manifested himself"and they know that our message is true.  So the baptismal program will be on April 13. The key was that a member did missionary work and we are reaping the blessings.  So if you haven't done missionary work yet today, find a way to do it before the day is over.

Our friend, Lourdes, also received her answer that the Book of Mormon is true this week. About a year ago her mom died, and Lourdes has been really sad about that. She was reading the BM and asked if it was true. Nothing happened. So she went to bed and she dreamed a dream. She said that she got to her apartment and found her mom there. Sitting next to her was a missionary that I had brought with me that day, and he was showing the BM to her mom. Her mom was smiling and very happy. Was that an answer from God? Do woodchucks chuck wood? Pues, sí!!!

The only bad thing is right now it is la Semana Santa. People here in Iztapalapa are going to be carrying crosses up hills and reenact the crucifiction. Plus, almost all of our investigators have left on vacation.  So we'll see what happens this week.

Love you!!

Elder Hubbard

Tyler made tortillas!

18 marzo 2013

Suprise! I'm writing on Monday today! The transfer ended yesterday. Mom said that the elders went over to their house to print their transfers off. That would be really nice. The APs just tell us the transfers via cell phone. The monoply cell phone company Telcel here in Mexico doesn't really rep but that's alright. So we took the transfers of the whole zone and then called the district leaders to let them know. Thankfully, Elder Lee and I will be staying together for another transfer! He's a good friend so I'm happy.  I can't believe that I only have two transfers left. It doesn't feel like it at all.

The missionary work in Churubusco should be at full steam in April. That's when we have planned to baptize all of these people that we are teaching. The Ramirez Flores family is still progressing a ton. Only the mom went to church yesterday because her husband couldn't. She stayed for all three hours and is loving the family history class.  We stopped by their house everyday this week to at least say hi to them and keep their minds on the Gospel. They still haven't accepted a baptismal date. That is the plan for this week.

We also found another family this week as a result of some service that we did in the street when I first got here. It is the Capistran family, who, as all families, has a ton of problems but who are also humbling themselves.  There is the gramma, who just got divorced after 46 years of a happy marriage, the mom, the dad, and they have two teenage girls. As we left the first lesson, the bishop said that they will for sure be baptized and we talked about them in Ward Council on Sunday.  We have a cita with them later today and with be taking the Relief Society President along with her husband who is in the stake presidency. It's an all out blitz.

So things are looking up. We should be able to destroy our baptismal goal in Abril. It's three.

To answer some of mom's questions, the diference between a zone leader and a district leader is that the normal missionaries report to the district leaders, the district leaders report to the zone leaders, and the zone leaders report the the APs.  It's just so the mission stays organized. Every Sunday the district leaders all meet us in the stake center and we go over their key indicators and see what their districts have been up too.  Every Monday we go to the offices to report to the APs and to bring materials back to the zone. Nothing too exciting.

I love every one of you! I love Heavenly Father and His Son, Jesus Christ. Nothing is more important than living the Gospel that they have always given the to the prophets. I know that the Gospel is on the earth today and that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints is the kingdom of God.

Elder Hubbard

12 marzo 2013

Familia,
This was my best week so far in Churubusco! For the first time since I have gotten here, we have investigators that are progressing! There are five of them.  I don´t know if you´ve noticed, but I haven´t had almost any baptisms since I left Contreras and I am not really liking that. I have hope for this month though. We have the goal of three baptisms and we are on track to get it. We are teaching an awesome family named the Ramirez Flores family. The mom, Lourdes, is the motor of the family and her husband is kind of along for the ride, but also a good man.  We were at church on Sunday after ward council waiting for church to start and I told Elder Lee that I just wanted the Ramirez Flores family to come. We walked outside and they were coming into the entrance. It was a tender mercy of the Lord.  They paid attention in church and in the family history class were really interested. Lourdes´ mom passed away a little bit ago and when she found out that she will be with her again she started crying. Our plan is to visit them every day even if it´s just for a few minutes and baptize them on March 30th.  That was the best part of my week but I know that this week will be even better.

The other good part about this area is that I eat really well. A lot of the members give us money to eat with instead of inviting us to their house. I don´t like that too much but at the same time, we can always choose what we want to eat.  Last night Sister Mares gave us some empanadas and I thought of Aaron and how much he likes them.  And mom, I have never in my life eaten chimichangas in DF but I have eaten a ton of rice and beans. Mexicans also love jello and abc soup. Who would have thought?

We gave another Zone Training this week, this time with the Book of Mormon. I think that will be my last one of the mission because more than likely I will end as a junior companion, normal missionary. All of the missionaries in our zone trained the ward councils in all of the Churubusco stake. My assignation was to work with the stake president and the bishoprics. So we practiced how to give a BM away, how to invite someone to a family home evening, and how to fellowship someone in sacrament meeting. I know that the members are blessed when they do their missionary work. It is so easy to do. Just do it. You´ll love it.

Anyways, I am doing good. Elder Lee is a stud. We learned how to "bailar el trompo" this week. I´ll show you what that means when I get back. I am a little disappointed with my family because it is March Madness and they haven´t mentioned one thing about it. But I still love you! Have a sweet week.

Elder Hubbard

Sister Mares and family

5 marzo 2013

Hola hola!!
It has been another really fast week. A year ago today I left my first area in Topilejo! I am glad that Lucy Mae is still doing well.  She is a cute little girl. I feel like I haven´t heard anything about Shayla in about 6 months! What ever happened to her?
This week was full of baptismal interviews. The zone had 11 baptisms to start the month off, which is really good. I think I interviewed about 5 people for their baptisms, and one of them I had to do twice.  One of them was for a family of five, so me and my companion did all of them. It´s been a while since I haven´t had a baptism. I don´t know what I am doing wrong but I am still trying. Our goal for April is 3 baptisms which means that I will have to find about 36 people this month if I want to reach the goal. It´s stressful sometimes. My plan is to contact like crazy whenever we are in the streets.
As we were on our way in a micro bus to some baptismal interviews, the police stopped us and told all of the men to get off. They made us all put our hands on the bus and they searched us. Luckily, the only thing that I had was my daily planner and some chapstick. Haha. Mexico is the best.
One of my favorite parts of this week was on Saturday night. We had invited some members to go with us to an appointment but it fell through. Elder Lee thought we should visit a less active sister and her husband who isn´t a member. When we got there we found that they were moving from their apartment to another one in the same building. So for the first time in my mission, I got to help someone move! Down two flights of stairs and then up one. We said a prayer with them too to bless their new home. I have been so sore afterwards. I am seriously weak sauce. Elder Lee and I always go running every morning but that just doesn´t make me ripped. I have stick arms.

We visited our bishop this week and had a lot of fun with his family. He has two little kids and we practiced giving a BM away with them. It was so funny. Little kids are so blunt. The 10 year old took a BM and is going to give it to a friend at school. I want to know what will happen.

Oh, we passed by Aztec Stadium this week when they were about to have a soccer game! That place was nuts!!! América vs. Cruz Azul. It brought back FIFA memories at BYU. And the train that we took was packed. There was no "Book of Mormon space between you and other people" rule. Awkward.

So I hope yall have a good week! Thinks are great here, as long as I find my 36 new investigators. It´s game time. I love you!

Elder Hubbard

26 febrero 2013

Hey familia!!!

I am loving my new area right now in Churubusco. (Choo roo boo scoh) Now you can pronounce it like a Chilanga, mom.  On Tuesday we had to go to the church to help supervise the transfers. We have to make sure that everyone knows where they are going and help them find their companion and then we annoy them until they go back to their areas to start working. The hardest people to get to go back to work are the sister missionaries. Haha. There were a ton of transfers, as always.

On Wednesday we had a Zone Training. We have 37 missionaries in our zone and 7 of them are sister missionaries. We started off with some announcements and then split them up into two groups. I took one of them and Elder Lee took the other. We taught and did a ton of practices. At the end, Presidente Valadez came out of nowhere with a sweet announcement. With all of the new missions in the world, our mission will be affected also. (But not until July 1st.) 3 of our 9 stakes in the mission will be going to other missions including 40 of our missionaries. The best mission in the world will be left with only 6 stakes. That´s a small mission.

The work in our area is really slow right now. We are just doing all we can to find new investigators. I have some ideas that we are going to use this week. We did find a new family of 4 this week but we need much more to be able to accomplish our baptismal goal.

One funny thing that went down was when we were teaching an old lady who is less active. Out of nowhere she just started praying to José Smith. Nooooo. I´m not gonna lie, I laughed a little, and then we taught her that we should only pray to our Heavenly Father. Haha.

So I know that the Lord is hastening His work and we should all see what we can do to help Him. The stone cut out of the mountain without hands is rolling full speed. But I know how it feels to see His work progressing so much and we feel stuck in our own challenges. Don´t believe it though. We are part of His work and glory.

I am going to get on the BYU website and sign up for some classes, Presidente Valadez said I should look at it. Love you!

Elder Hubbard

Lucy Mae Hubbard!!

Welcome to our family Lucy Mae Hubbard!! Lucy was born on Sunday, February 17 weighing 6 lbs 10 oz and measuring 19 1/4 inches long!! We are so grateful for this sweet little angel!!

18 febrero 2013

Welcome to the world Lucy Mae Hubbard!!! I was so happy to see the pictures of her. Congratulations Aaron, Lynze, and Oliver.

Thursday at 4 o´clock I had my transfers and came to my new area. They did the transfers of all of the zone leaders early. I am still a zone leader surprisingly and I am with an elderazo named Elder Lee. He is from Pleasant Grove, Utah and finishes his mission is September. He is a genius who was studying Chemistry at BYU and will most likely be helping me study it after my mission. We get along pretty well. There are about 38 missionaries in my zone. My new area is sick. I´m in the Churubusco ward, in the Churubusco stake. I love it. Still in la delegación Iztapalapa. It was one of the first stakes in Mexico. The members here are spiritual giants.  Our bishop is like 30 years old and the elder quorum president like 26. We live with a member named la hermana Mares. Well, we live on the same plot of land at least. All of the houses in DF are like 3 houses in one. She is awesome though and gives us food whenever we need it. The bad part is that I probably won´t be here for a ton of time because every missionary usually finishes as a normal missionary and as a junior companion. I am looking forward to that. In the area there are almost no investigators right now. They have worked a lot with some less-actives but it seems as if we are starting from scratch. We found a sweet less active family this week and taught a family with about 4 little girls about the Atonement. They understood it perfectly. We also taught a lot of active members and helped them in their missionary work.There are some huge apartment buildings in our area named U.H. Valle de Luces that is completely thug. It is so huge! There is a ton of work there.

The gospel is so cool and if people understood the blessings of it, they would never leave the church. The real blessings come after baptism. I am so glad that Aaron can lay his hands upon the head of Lucy and give her a blessing with the very power of God. You can´t receive those blessings anywhere else in the world. That is what the Plan of Salvation is all about. I know that God is in the details of our lives and he takes care of his children. Keep the faith remember that "grace shall be as the day." Love yall.

Elder Hubbard

p.s. This is a picture of DF´s most dynamic duo.

12 febrero 2013

Familia!

It´s been a great week here in DF. I definitely learned a lot. I was so excited to hear that Travis is going to Melbourne! When does he leave? A missionary couple that was in my mission here is serving in that mission right now. They had health problems so they had to leave. Their last name is Oillataguerre, so if you meet them, tell them hi for me.

So this week I am living in a house with the APs and secretaries in the mission. One of the APs is in my area with Elder Herrera. I got here Sunday night and I am going to be here until Thursday morning and then  will find out where I will be going. I already know that I will be transfered and I have all of my luggage here all packed up. I feel like a nomad right now. This could be my last area which is insane. I am working with Elder Mata who is from my generation. I have known him for about a year and it is always fun working with him. The area that we are working in is really nice. It´s called Coyoacán. There is a lot of turism, there are no hills, and all is well. In my next area I am thinking that I will no longer be a zone leader since I have been one for 6 transfers. I hope I can be a district leader again or just a normal missionary.

My trainer, Elder Leyva will be going home this week. I am going to miss that Peruvian.  Time goes by so fast.

Yesterday I had a Zone Leader´s council  here in the offices that was really good. I feel a little bit overwhelmed with all of the things that we need to remember to do every day. The mission is struggling right now in our leadership. There are not a lot of elders that can become district leaders or zone leaders.

Later today we are going to pick up the package that you sent me. I think that it´s been there for about a week so I hope it´s still there.  I think this is a boring, short letter once again but I promise that the next one will be a lot better. But anyways thanks for all of your emails and for always remembering me. I know that God is in the details of our lives and He gives us the challenges that we need to keep progressing.  I know that He has watched over me and protected me and all of His Children.

Love you!

Elder Hubbard
ps. Here are some good maps of my mission.
https://missionary.lds.org/mcore-ws/Services/rest/mission-map/detail
https://missionary.lds.org/mcore-ws/Services/rest/mission-map/overview

5 febrero 2013

Hey! sorry that that took so much time! It´s t been a really crazy week. Thanks for all of your letters. I have about two minutes so I just want to tell you that the best part of my week was seeing Elder Russell M. Nelson last Tuesday. I sat like 4 rows in front of him and could see and feel the pure love of Christ that he has. He came and visited the six missions here and he talked to us about who we are. I saw Elder Butterfield from a ways away, Max´s cousin, and all of the elders from my district in the MTC. I love you all and thanks you for all that you do for me.

I´ll write a ton next week!

28 enero 2013

What`s going on familia? It was kind of suspenseful to read the letters

that you sent me this week. I am glad that Lynze and Lucy are okay and back

home. When`s her due date? I`m glad that mom and dad could go to vegas and

take care of her. And I am super pumped to know where Travis is going on

his mission! 2 years ago yesterday I sent my mission papers in. I actually

might get to see him before I get back!

As for me, this week I barely left the house. I think we worked about a day

and a half in our area. My companion has been sick with body aches,

coughing, sore throat, and all of that good stuff. I am just trying to stay

healthy too. So I studied a ton, played FIFA (not), wrote letters, and

cleaned the house.

We went to the MTC which is at the temple too. I love to see the temple!

But I would of liked to go in. We just went to the doctor`s office and ate

in the MTC cafeteria. It was really good food. I had a sweet experience in

the metro as we came back. I was talking to Heavenly Father and told him

that there I was in middle of all of His children and that I was willing to

help someone if He told me who. I looked around at everybody and I saw I

guy in the very back corner and somehow knew that it was him. We started

talking to him and taught him the Restoration right then and there. As we

got off, he told us that he had been praying ever since he got on the metro

to be able to know what he should do with his life. He accepted a

missionary visit and I learned that God answers the prayers of others by

answering our prayers.

I finished the Book of Mormon for my 3rd time in Spanish and this time I

did it in 85 days because that`s how long it took for Joseph Smith to

translate it. He definitely was an athlete.  This time I`m reading the Book

of Mormon to be able to learn how God works with me and my relationship

with him. One thing that I have learned is that maybe we don`t understand a

commandment, but if we know Heavenly Father well, we will always want to

obey him.

We also had a cool zone conference this week. All I had to do was conduct

and help out with some practices. Almost all of my zone is sick and

Presidente Valadez is worried for us. He asked if we could all kneel down

so he could say a prayer. We weren`t going to tell him no, so we all knelt

down and he offered one of the most powerful prayers that I have ever

heard. I felt so much love. He is a great man.  La hermana Valadez made us

some tacos afterwards!

I am writing today because we are going to go spend the night in the

Assistant`s house tonight and go with them to the MTC and the temple

tomorrow. There is going to be a conference with a lot of different

missionaries from all six missions in DF. I am pumped and I am hoping that

an apostle or 70 shows up. That would be clutch.

Yes mom, we only have one ward that we meet with here.  The rest of Sundays

we eat, prepare a training for the District Leaders, and from 5 to seven we

have that meeting with them.   Lot`s of meetings.  And you should

definitely invite the missionaries from Xalpa over for dinner one night.

I love you all a ton! Be happy and healthy! Thanks for your letters and

your prayers. Share the Gospel!

Elder Hubbard

Viva la Hubba

21 Enero 2013

Hey family!!!

How`s everything going? I`m sorry that I have to write today and not tomorrow. It`s because tomorrow we are going to have a zone conference from 9 in the morning until 3 so we have our preparation day today. I`m glad to here that Lucy Mae is doing well and I pray for her every day. I am so excited to see pictures when she is born. 

I had a solid week here in Xalpa. The bad part is I am having a hard time remembering it. I normally bring my journal with me to help me remember what went down but today all I got is my daily missionary planner to help me out.

So I`ll just give you the highlights. This week we started teaching a less active family named la familia Lopez. The dad hadn`t gone in a couple of years because he was baptized in the US and didn`t feel the love here in Xalpa. His wife, Antonia, isn`t a member of the church but she already knows a lot of what we teach. She is awesome. They also have some kids. So I was sitting in sacrament meeting yesterday and I see the door open up. As a missionary, when the door opens up you just start creeping automatically because you want anybody to come and join the fun.  I saw that the Lopez family was coming in with huge smiles on their faces. It was seriously the happiest moment of my entire week to see them walk in once again. That`s why I love the Obra de la Salvaciòn.

Things were looking up and we thought that we were going to have two baptisms this Saturday but it doesn`t really look like we will be having them. But I`m still out there fighting to reach my goals.  A lady told me this week that a church had invited her to go swimming and she went. She was just doing her thing in the pool when all of the sudden the leader of the church came in out of nowhere and dunked her into the water. When she came out coughing, she was informed that she had been baptized. Haha. I know that baptisms take more work than that.  We had a movie night in our ward this week and we gave a lot couple of church tours that helped us out quite a bit.

One thing that I learned this week is that blessings don`t just randomly pour down out of heaven in a salt shaker. We recieve blessings because we earned them. As I try to obey God`s will, I can`t do it perfectly but there are some things that I can do perfectly. As a missionary I can obey a ton of rules perfectly and it all depends on me. As members of the church we can control that too. We can be perfect for example in paying our tithing, or having our Family Home Evenings every Monday night. If we do things perfectly more and more we can develop a personal relation with Jesus Christ because we will live like him and understand him. That is the true blessing of obedience.

Thanks for the emails! I am so happy that I have such a good family and friends. Keep up the good work. I love you all.

Elder Hubbard

15 Enero 2013

Hello my friends! (I hear that everyday but with a thick Mexican accent)

¿Que tranza? 

Thanks for all of your letters. It sounds likes it’s cold at

home. I kind of forgot that it`s winter. Here it feels like spring all year

long, except for a few months when it is pretty hot.

This week was a lot of fun. We found 12 new investigators and some of them

are already on a roll. That is good because I feel like we’ve been

struggling in this area a little bit with bautismos.

So last week I told you that I had bed bugs. False. I never found them but

I had bug bites all over my body. I was itching more than that mangy dog

that I sent you a picture of. Haha. I had it all over my hands, arms,

stomach, legs, and thunder thighs. Not a pretty picture. On Wednesday night

I tapped out and called la Hermana Valadez. She told me to go to the doctor

the next day. He said that I probably had a flea or a tick land on me from

a dog or a dirty house. He gave me some pills and some lotion. The bug

bites last for a while too! I still have them. But their getting better.

Who gets fleas? I promise that I take a shower every day.

So what else? Oh last week we found somebody named Gloria and her son

Arturo. My companion just sneezed on me. Anyways, Gloria went to church

this week. She loved every minute of it and is already applying what she

learned there. Yesterday she told us that she normally works on Sundays,

but if her boss doesn`t let her rest, she`s just going to quit. Haha. I

love that attitude. Out of nowhere she told us that she smoked a ton, but

on Friday and Saturday she only smoked once, on Sunday she smoked half of a

cigarette, and yesterday she didn`t smoke at all. We didn`t even teach her

the Word of Wisdom! It`s so cool to see the Spirit start to do work in

somebody and help them get better in every aspect of their lives.  We are

going to try to meet her husband this week.

We had 41 members in church on Sunday. That might be just a little less

that go to a WNBA basketball game. The members here need a lot of help, but

there are some really strong ones too. It would be a tough place to grow up

I think.

On Friday I had a Zone Leader Meeting with President Valadez. It was so

sweet. One of the things that he told us that we should focus on is having

church tours during the week so that people feel the Spirit, and have the

desire to go on Sunday. So we were looking for somebody on Friday night,

when my comp contacted a lady outside of her house. We explained a little

bit of our message and she asked if we wanted to come in. Claro que si! Her

son and daughter were also there. We sat down and then out of nowhere, the

mom, Mariana, asked us why there are so many churches, and which one is

right. Money. We watched the Restoration with her and they all loved it.

Then we invited them to come to the church on Saturday for a tour. The

whole family came, including her husband, and really felt the Spirit. They

just kept saying how pretty it was. It is definitely the Lord`s Kindgom on

earth. I love going to church, and I know that it is there that we can

learn how to be an eternal family.

It was a good week. Time is just hauling by. I am just trying to accomplish

my baptismal goal and learn what I need to. Thanks for your good letters

and I am glad that all is well at home.

I love you! Keep the faith.

Elder Hubbard

7 Enero 2013

Hey family!!!

So the transfer has ended, and Elder Herrera and I aren`t going anywhere. We have one different district leader that will be in our zone, and a lot of other transfers happened in the zone too. It will be nice to see some new faces in the zone and get some new help. I am officially the missionary with the most time as a zone leader. That makes me feel old.  I am really excited to be staying with Elder Herrera this transfer because things are really picking up in our area. It`s all about La Obra de la Salvaciòn.

We really started looking for the families on our list of less-actives this week and as usual, we saw some miracles.  We found two families that only have one member in them and have a ton of potential. We also got the bishop`s sister to go back to church after a ton of years being inactive.

On Saturday, we placed 4 baptismal dates. This week we are going to have Raciel`s baptism. He is a 19 year old married spiritual stud. He studies every little thing that we give him. He came to church on Sunday after working a 24 hour shift. He was tired but the elder quorum`s president gave him a testimony so powerful that it made his anscestors dizzy. Seriously. I love it when members give their testimonies to our friends. We are also teaching Raciel`s brother who will be baptized in the near future. Xalpa is starting to explode! Our agenda is fuller than the Mexico City subway. We don`t have time for anything. Even today on p-day we have way to much to do. I miss those days that I did things like go to pyramids and turibus and p-days. Oh well.

I went to Coyoacàn this week on exchanges with Elder Mata, one of the AP`s. It was a ton of fun.  It was like the 4th time that I have been to his area and I really like it a lot.  I learned a lot from him and enjoyed getting out of my zone for a little bit. 

The major problem of the week is bed bugs!!! They`re horrible! I thought that the phrase "Don`t let the bed bugs bite!" was just a cute thing to say before you go to sleep, but is has taken on a whole meaning. You really don`t want the bed bugs to bite. It is itchy, gross, and I am desperate. Haha. I have little bites all over my body.  We have been washing all of our bedding, clothes, and sheets. I hope that we can kick them out. 

On a good note, I am the proud owner of some new shoes! They are very comfortable and will get me through to the end of the mission.

I am very happy to be serving my mission right now. There are always ups and downs, but I always love trying to be better. I know that my Redeemer lives. I know that He is the same today, tomorrow, and forever and that He has placed His church on the earth today. He payed the price for each of our sins and helps us overcome them. I love Him.

I feel like my emails get shorter and shorter. The weeks go faster and faster.  I love hearing how you are doing. I`m glad that you had a good vacation. Have a good week! I love you.

Elder Hubbard

1 Enero 2013

Happy 2013!!!

I can not believe it, but that was the end of the year. Blows my mind. It is already the sixth week of the transfer also, so there will be some changes next week in the zone. My companion is about 100 percent sure that we will have transfers, but I really doubt it. I`ll be writing on Monday.

It felt so good to go back to work on Wednesday. I feel like sometimes I am doing everything but focusing on working in our own area.  But I love it when we have a whole day just to find, teach, and work.  On Thursday, a new American worked with me in my area. He is completely lost in regards to spanish. I taught every lesson by myself. We also found a less active family and gave them blessings. The dad, who`s not a member can`t work because of his knees, can`t hear, and can`t read. That`s why I offered him a priesthood blessing, because I figured that it would be the only thing that could touch his heart.  I love the priesthood.

On Friday in our weekly planning session, I got sick of not carrying out very well La Obra de Salvaciòn. So I decided to buy a binder, and make something just for our ward to track it`s progress. We put a ward directory there, we finally got a list of less actives to visit and put them there, and there will be much more. I am so pumped to do things right and break all of the false traditions of members not doing missionary work. It`s gametime.

I have been meeting a lot more members and less actives. There are some really cool people here and I feel a lot of love for them. We found out this week that Cristina isn`t going to move, so we can teach Lupita and she will be baptized soon.  Raciel, a twenty year old made the top ten plays of the week also. He`s just an athlete when it comes to studying his pamphlets and filling them out. He explained the Restoration to us better than some missionaries can. We`re pulling for this saturday for his baptism.

New Years in Mexico is nuts. Laying in my bed last night, I felt like I was inside of a popcorn maker in Fallon theaters with all of the explosions going of outside. The amount of fireworks they use here puts Gandalf to shame. Seriously, if you are old enough to hold your own binky, then you are old enough to light fireworks in Mexico. I even saw a dad give his cigarette to his daughter so that she could light one. Que onda!! There are also other traditions like eating 12 grapes in 12 seconds at midnight. I was sound asleep so we`ll have to try that next year. We ate dinner with a sick family, named Jorge and Noemi. They gave us some kind of stuffed chicken that was really good.

So I feel like I haven`t written much of what I wanted to but time`s up. I am really happy now and I am glad that I still have 6 months left to be a missionary. There are a lot of things I still need to learn and improve.

As for your new years resolutions, just decide to repent every day and they become a joke. The Gospel is of constant change, not only once a year. I love you all! I hope you had a great new years and watched a ton of football.

Elder Hubbard